From the responsorial psalm: “O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 10:13-16)
Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
For those who hear and reject the proclamation of the kingdom of God and reject, Jesus says, “Woe to you!” In the first reading, Job heard the call to repentance as the LORD addressed him. In response, he said, “Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?” In choosing to live a life of poverty, Saint Francis also heard the call and responded, abandoning wealth to follow Christ, who made himself poor for our sake. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
God, I long to hear your voice. How is it I have difficulty hearing you, yet where can I go from your spirit, and from your presence where can I flee? I know you are the giver of every good gift, yet there are times when your voice is indistinct or completely silent. I want to listen to you; let me hear your voice. Meet me in my poverty of spirit, Lord, and let me know your presence. Saint Francis, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.